Ameriprise Financial Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 74.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,049,624 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 449,093 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.66% of Banc of California worth $16,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BANC. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 1,446.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,823,000 after purchasing an additional 43,730,207 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,913,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,716,000 after buying an additional 644,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Banc of California by 274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,393,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,377,000 after acquiring an additional 3,953,380 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Banc of California by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,556,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,525,000 after acquiring an additional 62,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Banc of California by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,281,410 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,270,000 after purchasing an additional 221,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BANC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Banc of California in a report on Monday, April 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Banc of California currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.09.

Banc of California Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of BANC opened at $14.45 on Friday. Banc of California, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.52 and a 52-week high of $18.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 25.79 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The firm had revenue of $266.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.36 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

Insider Transactions at Banc of California

In related news, Director James Andrew Barker purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.16 per share, with a total value of $131,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 169,680 shares in the company, valued at $2,232,988.80. This trade represents a 6.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.69% of the company’s stock.

About Banc of California

Banc of California, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Banc of California that provides various banking products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, demand, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; retirement accounts; and safe deposit boxes.